Light in the Darkness
by WriterErii
Summary: Nox had his reasons for being a baddie. However, did he ever mention every single one? As his spiritual life progresses, many more secrets are revealed to his past life. Rated T for future violence.
1. School

**Author's note:** It was time that I started working on a REAL story. Recently I've been attached to my Dusknoir OC, Nox. So, to satisfy myself, I shall write his story which leads up to the present time. The reason for the title will become more clear near the end of the fic. For now, I hope whoever reads this story will like it. If there are any mistakes or corrections that are required, please let me know! I'd like my writing to be as enjoyable as possible.

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><p>The playground of the ghost schoolyard filled up once recess had begun. The dark pitch black skies reigned overhead, only being viewed as beautiful by the very civilians of this land for ghost types. The most noticeable of the ghost children would be the small little group of a litwick, a frillish, and a golett, all playing a game of catch. Various ghost types came to this large school, which would help them grow up to be powerful and frightening ghosts in the future. All of them looked normal... Except for one.<p>

A dark colored duskull sat on the sidelines, watching everyone else have fun, while he pictured what it would be like if he wasn't avoided by others. His grey eye depressed whoever gazed directly into it, since it was devoid of color and emotion. His dark mask also unnerved others, giving off terrible vibes from its awfully negative appearance. Upset and lonely, he floated away to the edge in the back of the playground, hiding by a dead tree so no one would stare at him.

The frillish child looked over once he caught the ball. "Well, at least the weirdo is gone..." He frowned, nervous. His gaze looked to his two friends once again, his expression questioning them. "He's kind of creepy... What do you guys think?" The blue jellyfish asked to the candle and set of armor.

"Well..." The female litwick tilted her head. "He is a ghost like us..." She trailed off, mumbling the rest of what she was going to say nervously. The golett shuddered. "She's right... But... Something about him freaks me out. I don't know what."

The frillish glanced back at the mysterious hiding duskull again, seeing that it was actually staring at them from the shadows once again. "Uhm... I think we should play somewhere else..." He suggested. The other two in his group immediately nodded in response, following the jellyfish as he floated to another end of the playground.

"..." In silence, the duskull sat against the tree, feeling tears start to form in his eye. "What's wrong with me...?" He asked himself, shuddering as he tried to hold the waterworks back. "What did I ever do...? All I want is to be a friend... Even I can't do that right..." He shook his head in shame, still sniveling and bawling to himself as a few other kids stared at him from where they stood. It seemed that his sobbing was loud enough for them to hear. The bell rang, and immediately, as if their lives depended on it, the other kids rushed back inside the school facility. The duskull child didn't budge, taking in the silence. It wouldn't be long until he was noticed.

A cofagrigus floated out of the building, all four of his arms at his sides. Quietly, he scanned the playground until he found a dark lump hiding behind blackened wood. Sighing, he made his way towards the child, unaware that the little tyke was crying previously. The sarcophagus immediately recognized the duskull the minute he laid his scarlet eyes on him.

"Nox, what're you still doing out here? Recess is over." He stated, staring down at the kid. Quivering, the duskull turned, staring up at the counselor. "S-s-s-sorry, Mister Hapu..." Nox fiddled with his arm flaps. "I..." He wiped his eye, almost as if he was napping. "Just needed some time for myself... I-If that's okay..." The school staff member shook himself since he lacked a separate head to shake itself, and he held one of his shadowy hands behind the child to pat his back. "Well, alright. You still have to get inside. Come on." Gently, led Nox back inside for class.

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><p>Every class went by awkwardly for the reaper child. Whenever he tried to answer a question, he'd usually be interrupted by another classmate who would answer it instead, just so they didn't have to hear his unplesantly chilling voice. Whenever he spoke, many would cringe or shudder in fear. Usually this would be a good thing, but not at a young age.<p>

What was even worse was that the teachers even seemed irked by his presence. Just remembering the faces other ghosts would give him made the child want to hide away and possibly bawl his eye out. Nothing ever seemed remotely right with him, at least, that's what he figured.

Each class passed by agonizingly slow, to the duskull's dismay. Most of them were supposed to be fun or interesting to a little ghoul, but most activities were a group effort. Nobody ever wanted to work with him. Eventually, he'd be paired with a couple of 'unfortunate' children who couldn't manage to nab a third teammate. The only class that seemed remotely bearable would be 'Ghost Legends', or so to say, stories about famous ghost Pokémon who had good reputations for scaring humans to death. These stories always seemed to calm him down.

Finally, the child's last class arrived, however would not be better than any of the rest. He already became antsy once he floated in through the doorway. Quietly, he took his place on the back of the carpet, so no one would freak out if he tried to sit next to them. Human language was always the slowest class of the day, unfortunately. Nox fidgeted where he sat, paying attention to the teacher. He could hear the clock ticking nearby, further testing his patience and taunting him. The whole time, he remained quiet, and it seemed that he had finally started to zone out. Many minutes had passed rather quickly due to not focusing. Finally, he was noticed.

"Nox?" The driftblim teacher called on the duskull's name. Immediately, he perked, shooting up a bit from his seat. Some of the children jumped or scooted back, afraid if he was going to attack them. Not amused in the slightest, the teacher raised an invisible brow. _'Was he even paying attention...?'_ The giant balloon thought, puffing up slightly in irritation. Carefully, to be rid of his anger, he inhaled, then slowly let out some air, making sure he wouldn't blow himself back. Nox blinked, looking up nervously, and the students stared at him expectantly.

Clearing his 'throat', the driftblim refocused himself on the little duskull he called on. "Could you please try and read the word written on the board?" He pointed a large, flat arm to the English word written on the board in a bold red essence. Nox nodded timidly, floating up to the front of the room while the others made a path for him so they wouldn't 'catch anything.' Nox squinted his eye slightly, unnerved by what was considered to be a long word for his age.

The word spelled out as 'C-E-M-E-T-E-R-Y.' The duskull shuddered. Taking a small breath and releasing it, he tried to read the word aloud. "K-k-key..." The teacher already looked doubtful. "Key...mee..." Some students started to giggle at his struggling. "Keymee... tear...ee? Keemee-" He immediately felt warmer than he should be, unhappy that everyone else was laughing when they had the same troubles as this before. "Key-mee-tee-ree! O-or something... Like that... N-no..." He shook his head in shame. His teacher placed one of his arms at his small waist and used the other to pat the child's head. Nox stared, a bit worried about how well he pronounced the word. The teacher gestured him to get back to his 'seat.' Nervously, the duskull did so, drifting between the clear row the others had made to avoid being touched by his small cloth arms accidentally. Once again, he sat at the back of the rug, and the others went back to their normal place on the mat.

"Very good, Nox. You were pretty close. The word is pronounced 'ceh-meh-teh-ree.' Now, does anyone know what a cemetery is?" Hands, tendrils, and flaps went up, except for Nox's own. He mumbled to himself, feeling embarrassed. Some of the students grinned, finding it silly that a reaper child didn't know what a cemetery was. The teacher called on the golett from the playground. "Apollo?"

"A cemetery is a graveyard, pretty much. To break it down for others-" Nox cringed, knowing that this bundle of metal was referring to him, "-a place to bury the dead." Quietly, a few of the children giggled once again. Feeling slightly intimidated, Nox covered his eye with one of his cloth flaps.

The teacher nodded in approval. "Good. Very nice way to put it. Someday, maybe some of you ghosts will live in a cemetery! It's a pretty swell place to spook humans, especially at a certain time of the year." A few 'oohs' and 'ahs' escaped from the ghost children's mouths. "What time of the year?" A misdreavus asked excitedly. "Yeah, what time?" A shuppet repeated. The driftblim hushed the class.

"Now, now, that's for another time, and possibly for another class. For now, class is over. I apologize." There was a chorus of 'aww's coming from the entire class except for the duskull in the back. A freakish bell rang, signaling the day was over. "Now, go on home, everyone." All of the students made their way out of the class, except for Nox yet again, who hesitated.

The driftblim sighed. "Nox, you did fine today. Don't be discouraged by the other kids. Go on, I'm pretty sure your family is waiting for you." Slowly, Nox nodded.

"Okay..." He replied quietly.

With that, the little dull duskull was out the door.


	2. Home

As the little masked ghost drifted back home, not bothering to rush, he gazed around the blackened landscape, eyeing the Pokémon who kept their distance from him. He fiddled with his cloth-like hands, still feeling embarrassed from earlier during class. Some of the students who were also going home giggled yet again at the memory, and he knew what they were thinking about. Grumbling to himself, the duskull made his way home without getting into any trouble.

The homes in the ghost village mirrored those of a human's, making it feel as if they actually lived in the area. All of them were topped with a roof, had a wooden creaky door out front, and also included a couple of windows. Most of the houses looked fairly dreadful but were actually pleasant to the inhabitants. The child cringed, floating over to the front of his family's house.

At the door, Nox hesitantly knocked on the wood to the best of his ability, however it hardly made any sound due to his weak arms. Nonetheless, the knocking was answered to as it was fairly recognizable to whoever was on the other side.

The door creaked open, and a large hand made itself apparent as it was gripped on the knob. A dusknoir peered down at the tiny ghost at the front of its door, and scooped the child up with its free arm with ease. Nox flustered slightly as he was pulled away from his spot.

"Hello, Nox, dearie, how was your day at school?" The dusknoir's chimed, her feminine and cheery voice defining her gender clearly. She carefully shut the front door, being careful not to slam it or make too much noise, for that matter. At the table in the corner, a darkly colored gengar sat there, engrossed in a novel.

"F-fine, Mom..." The child replied timidly, feeling a slight embarrassed blush creep onto his face. His mother internally smiled. Her child certainly was a reserved one, which slightly amused her, seeing as that made him very different from his parents. She looked over at the table, where her husband was still reading. She released her grip on the doorknob behind her without a sound. "Hon, your son is home." She pointed out, holding the child close to her. Nox sighed quietly, waiting to see what his dad had to say.

The gengar looked up from the dusty book, placing it down with a smile, one that wasn't as wide and mischievous as most gengars' would be. He floated over, taking the child from his mother's arm with care, and holding him in front of his face. "Hey there, kiddo!" The gengar released the boy, so he could float on his own. "You doin' alright, my boy?" He patted the duskull's head, although it was a bit hard to reach. Nox stared, looking a bit uncertain. His father was able to read him just like the book he had sitting on the table.

"...Did something happen?" He questioned, as if he was reading his mind. Nox fiddled with his cloth-like arms.

"W-Well...M-maybe... It's not important..." He trailed off.

Both of his parents stared at each other, then looked back at their son. "We should talk about it, then. Doing that will probably rid you of those ugly thoughts clouding your mind!" His father exclaimed, pointing one of his small fingers at the ceiling in declaration. Nox floated back slightly, staring at his dad quizzically. His father smiled, guiding Nox over to the nearby sofa to sit down. The mother simply floated over to talk with her son from behind it.

"So, would you mind telling us what went on today? You know, whatever made you feel down like this. It's alright, no need to hesitate."

Nox stared at his father blankly, not bothering to speak a word. His mother tensed, seeing that her son was usually difficult when it came to talking about any school day, especially the exceptionally bad ones. "Leon, dear, may I try to speak with him?"

Leon nodded. "Sure." He replied, scooting away from his son somewhat so he can be comfortable.

The female dusknoir bent over a bit, folding her arms to perch them on the peak of the sofa. "Sweetie, we're just trying to help you." She spoke in an assuring tone, "All we want to do is make you feel better, because we love you. You know that, right?"

Her son cringed slightly and unnoticeably. "W-W-Well, yes..." He replied, staring down at nothing to avoid her gaze. "I'm just..." He hesitated, "I-I'm a failure..." Quietly, he covered both of the eye holes in his mask with his cloth-like arms, not wanting to look at his parents. The couple stared at each other momentarily, until his mother spoke again. "Why would you think that? Everyone makes mistakes." She replied, reaching over to gently rub his back in a comforting manner.

Nox removed his hands from his face, looking over at his mother with a shameful expression. "B-but they laughed at me..." He remembered his final class of the day, shuddering.

"W-what...?" His mother replied, in slight shock. She stared over at her husband, who also had a dumbfounded look on his face. The larger ghost type sighed. "That's not right... You never laughed at them, or did anything wrong..."

The duskull stared away. Those were his thoughts exactly, however, he was also thinking about the playground incident. All of the kids in his class avoided him, and no hints as to why were ever given to him. Even though it has always been like that, the child never bothered to speak of it to his parents, for he found no reason to. He hoped that maybe someday there would be someone that wasn't afraid of him and would be his friend.

Finally, his mother pulled her hand away, returning it to her side. Nox stared up at her questioningly. She gave him an invisible, yet heartfelt smile. "You should get some rest," The dusknoir suggested, "Maybe it'll make you feel better..."

"Okay..." Slowly, Nox levitated off of the plush cushion and floated back. His father took great care in getting his feet back on the floor, careful not to injure his small tail on the way down. He glanced over at his child.

"Goodnight, son." He spoke.

"'Night Dad, 'night Mom..." The duskull waved one of his flimsy arms and started heading for the rear ends of the house, to sleep in his room at the very end of the hall. His parents stared at each other.

"...What're we going to do, dear...? He always seems this way." The mother asked, staring down at the floor in defeat. Leon walked over to her side, taking a hold of her hand gently with his smaller own.

"Don't worry, Mila. I'm sure we can think of something. Besides, it's probably just a phase. Hopefully he'll grow out of it." He suggested, a slight glint of hope in his eyes.

"...I hope so..." Mila replied, pulling her husband up into her arms for an awkward embrace. Leon smiled softly, being held close as he was lifted off of the ground. He chuckled lightheartedly.

"I'm sure of it. What's the worst that could happen?"


	3. Bullies

Another day of school had begun for the ghost children at Dreadfield elementary school. Each child settled in an orderly manner, taking their place on a dull cushion in the room, seeing as homeroom usually would be a small period of time to relax before beginning a school day.

The teacher, a froslass, floated quietly at the front of the room, ready to begin with the morning announcements she had to give to the class. In response to the clearing of her throat, each student quieted down and directed their attention to her.

"Morning, class." She began.

"Morning, Ms. Natra." Almost all of the students replied, some not easy to hear due to shyness, along with a very small few who couldn't even utter a word.

Ms. Natra smiled gently at the class, holding her hands together at the front of her torso in a gleeful manner.

"Alright, students, there are not many announcements to be made today, but they are important, so please listen up, if you will." Everyone nodded to her warning.

"First of all, since you all are fairly old enough to understand this, I will give you a small lecture about bullying. Bullying is when you mistreat another in either a physical or mental way. Now, the thing is, since some of you ghosts are growing up, you may tend to get more aggressive or feel the need to be of high importance or respect. Respect does not come to you through harassing others in your class, or in any other grade level, for that matter. It comes from the kindness in your hearts."

A small, waxy hand rose in response.

"Yes, Chandelle?" Ms. Natra acknowledged the small candle Pokémon.

"I thought we didn't have hearts?"

The teacher giggled along with a few other students laughing gently in a joking manner to the question.

"No, no, Chandelle, most of us don't have hearts, but metaphorically, we do. We all have the ability to feel and to love, even if we don't have internal organs, if anything. We must respect one another through the kindness we share with each other, which could go a long way for anybody, especially the friends we make and even new faces as well. Please remember, violence is wrong in many ways, alright, children? Now, speaking of new faces, I have another announcement as well."

The interest of the ghosts piqued at the mention of 'new faces.' Were there new classmates coming in?

"I would like to introduce you all to two new students. Their families just moved to the area, so please make them feel welcome to Dreadfield. I introduce to you, Enzo the gastly and his friend, Kamran the sableye."

Both of the mentioned young ones entered the room in a calm fashion with wide, friendly grins on their faces. A few 'ooh's and 'ah's emit from the class, except for a certain duskull.

From the back of the room, Nox narrowed his eye slightly in suspicion of these two newcomers. _'They moved here?'_ He thought. _'Why? This place isn't well-known... The school hardly has that much structure too. Something sure is strange about this...'_

"Okay, class. Now that the announcements are over, you may welcome the new students and relax before the bell rings. I'll be checking on some things." Hesitantly, Ms. Natra floated out of the room.

Nox blinked, confused at this. Ms. Natra usually wouldn't leave everyone by themselves. Things would get hectic without any supervision. He sighed, not wanting to bother too much with it and sat on the floor, staring at the carpet until the bell rang.

After speaking with a few of their new classmates, the duo of Enzo and Kamran eyed the oddly colored duskull. "Who is that kid?" Kamran whispered to his partner in wonder.

"How should I know, we just got here." Enzo replied. Nox didn't seem to hear them. One of the students, a drifloon, heard them clearly and floated over.

"Him?" She asked, carefully pointing a string up at the duskull who sat patiently in the back of the room. "That's Nox." The drifloon answered, letting the thread she pulled up dangle once again. "No one knows too much about him, but he creeps us out to no end." She huffed. "It's just... He feels so... I don't know, ominous?" The balloon stated, simply floating and looking over at the new classmates.

"Omni-wha?" Enzo questioned. "What kind of word is that, and how do you know it?"

Invisibly, the drifloon rolled her eyes, smiling a bit at his lack of vocabulary. "Ominous. My kind learns the move ominous wind, so I have to know what it means. I don't know why I necessarily have to, but that's what my parents told me. It means...threatening...something like that. Scary, dangerous, those are more simple ways to put it..."

Already, Kamran started to take a liking to this drifloon's knowledge. "Well. We learn something every day, I guess." He replied, holding a hand out to her. "Kamran."

"Callia." The drifloon smiled, extending a string towards the newcomer.

"U-uhm, I'm Enzo..." The gastly next to the two commented, feeling left out in the introductions.

Kamran stepped forwards, gently grasping the heart-shaped piece at the end of Callia's thread. "Well then, Callia, if you're scared, me and the big guy here can make sure you're never afraid again..."

Callia blushed slightly, holding another string to her face. "You would do that...?" She asked, a bit amazed at the bravery Kamran possessed.

"Of course. Next period is recess, right?" The sableye asked.

The drifloon nodded. "That's a weird schedule..." Enzo butted in again with an odd statement.

Both of the other two gave him a slightly amused look momentarily, and then went back to business. "Alright... Seeing as every school has someone watching everyone during that time, we're going to have to have the big guy out of the way. Here's what we're going to do..."

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><p>The class of young ghosts spilled out through the back doors of the facility, eager to be outside and get more tomfoolery out of them before they actually had any serious classes. Nox quickly slipped through, finding his favorite tree at the back of the blacktop and hiding behind it, taking in the comfort of the solitude that had been provided to him.<p>

Kamran and his small gang of ghouls made their way outside casually. A smug grin flashed on the sableye's face momentarily, his confidence shining through. Enzo and Callia followed closely behind their leader through the double doors.

"You remember what you have to do, Callia?" Kamran turned his head to the drifloon, hoping the plan would carry out the way he wanted it to.

She nodded. "Mhm. I know. Should I now, or…?" The sableye raised a hand to her so she would calm down.

"We have to wait until the teacher comes out first." He replied. Kamran motioned the other two to back up as the twin doors opened slowly, revealing a cofagrigus on the other side. He opened both doors each with two of his shadowy arms. The teacher blinked, staring down at the three tykes in question.

"What're you three doing, standing by the door like that? You could get hurt if it opens and you don't see it." He stated, crossing all of his arms.

The three of them gave him an innocent smile to ensure that they weren't up to anything. "Oh, nothing, Mr. Kapu …" Callia trailed off.

"We were just coming out and we got distracted, is all." Kamran added.

The supervisor hesitated, thinking momentarily about the children's odd behavior as he floated in front of them. Maybe it really was nothing…

"Alright." He sighed, letting the three head out.

Gladly, the trio took the chance to act as innocent as possible until their plan could be followed through. Enzo and Kamran took a ball and played catch, however, it ended up badly seeing as Enzo had no hands to catch the ball with. Instead, they decided to hang out with some of the other kids. Callia drifted off to the side of the blacktop, making sure that no one could see where she was.

Everyone else paid no attention to these odd acts, since they were too busy playing to actually take any notice. As usual, Chandelle, Apollo, and the frillish from yesterday were tossing a ball to each other, sometimes in an odd fashion, just to keep it from getting any bit boring for them.

A female scream was heard at the other end of the area. darted in the direction it was coming from, and all who were outdoors dropped what they were doing and stared off in the distance to see what was up. Kamran and Enzo grinned.

From behind the dead tree, Nox stared curiously. He finally wandered out into the open, wondering what was going on. Nobody usually had any trouble out here and never had received many injuries, either.

At the side of the building, Callia gripped her side, sobbing as best as she could to convince the teacher. The sarcophagus ghost came in from around the corner, floating to the seemingly harmed drifloon. "What's wrong? What happened?"

The drifloon sniveled, staring up at him with watery eyes. "A-A dark type attack hit me… Something could be out there…" She motioned to a patch of pitch-black darkness, in which no body could see through its density. Surprised, Mr. Hapu managed to gasp slightly. "Dark types in Dreadfield? No, that can't be… If that is so, however, I will investigate for you. Stay with the others, it's not safe over here."

Callia nodded, letting the supervisor leave his post unattended to. She smirked, feeling quite accomplished with herself. Finally, Kamran and Enzo could finish the deed off. With that in mind, the balloon Pokémon made her way back, ready to watch the fight.

"Hey, kid." Kamran approached the discolored duskull casually. Nox turned his head towards the sableye warily. He didn't trust this ghost one bit, especially since it was partially a dark type.

"Wh-what do you want…" He stammered. The sableye grinned, stepping forwards.

"I want you to get lost." He replied to the frightened child. Nox's eye widened, he did not like the sound of this at all.

"What?"

At the shout, the gastly and sableye surrounded him. Both cackled threateningly, circling the boy. Kamran let out an ear-splitting shriek, which caused Nox to scream and back away, covering the sides of his head. His head was still ringing as the other two advanced on him. "Night Shade!" The sableye called out. The duo shrouded themselves in a shadowy aura, unleashing an unbearable mirage upon the already terrified duskull. Colossal versions of themselves tossed Nox around, stomped on him, and smacked him hard into the ground. Before the two could finish him off, he immediately got up, tears stinging his eye. "No more, no more…" He cried. Hastily, he fled, passing the white line boundary of the blacktop and heading straight for home.

Many ghosts cheered at the display. Callia floated over and hugged her hero. "Kamran, that was wonderful!" She chimed. Kamran smirked, hugging her back.

"I couldn't let a monster like that hurt you." He replied.

Apollo couldn't help but find this very unsettling. "Price, Chandelle, did you see that…?" He questioned to his friends. Price, the frillish, nodded.

"Yeah, I did. Weren't they a bit too rough on Nox? I mean, sure, he's scary, but…" He trailed off.

The litwick also agreed. "Don't you think that was…bullying?"

The two boys next to her snapped their heads up in realization. "Th-they must be bullies…" Price pointed out. The three looked at each other with worried eyes, now wondering what this could possibly do in the near future.

Ms. Natra parted the double doors from each other, staring out through the crack. "Oh no…" She trembled. "I'm too late."

Nox's figure disappeared from view, no longer being anywhere near school grounds.


	4. Spite

Leon and Mila knew for sure that something was bothering their son immensely when they found him home so early in the day. Both tried to cheer the little ghost up, however failed. Fortunately, they were able to have some key information given to them through what they could manage to have their son explain. The news did not make the couple any bit happy with Nox's school one bit. They tried their hardest to have things straightened out.

The principal didn't believe that two children would be able to mercilessly harm one of their own age in front of an entire class without any of them bringing up the event to any of their teachers. Only one of the staff members knew of what had occurred, but had no say in the matter for having a very minor role in the school's daily schedule. Seeing that the topic of bullying was also mentioned on that day, they found it impossible for a student to commit such an act, for those kinds of things would be on high maintenance.

Since Nox broke a very important rule, he was to be suspended. The suspension didn't last too long, however, the child refused to go back to school after the traumatizing event of being beaten down for no apparent reason. This led his parents into taking him into homeschooling until he was ready to go back to regular school. Life had been mostly indoors for at least five years for the child, who had grown up through his father's self-defense lessons, which had been of high importance if Nox were to face any bullies ever again.

Once going through evolution to become a powerful dusclops, his confidence boosted to higher levels. Finally, the oddly colored ghost would be able to go back to school once more and receive the education he required from knowledgeable teachers at Dreadfield. No longer was Nox a kid anymore. He had matured into a fine dusclops, capable of taking on whoever opposed his presence.

...At least, that is what he thought.

Nox wasn't the only one to mature. Enzo had evolved into a haunter, which made him stronger than ever. Kamran didn't have the ability to evolve, nor had the need to. When Nox came back, they were ready for him.

After so many years of security and isolation, Nox couldn't take any more beatings. The nasty duo were as dastardly as ever and made sure that his life would be miserable while in the educational facility. A horribly strong and terrifying feeling started to grow in the dusclops's heart. No one knew the consequences of his rage...

* * *

><p>The shadow of the mummy Pokémon cast onto the door of his home. He coughed, his sides aching and his head throbbing from the harsh treatment he was given by Enzo and Kamran. His breaths were coarse and full of hatred to those who have caused him misery over the past years. Slowly, he reached his shaking hand over to the knob, turning it and entering. Immediately, his parents turned to greet him... only to find a nasty sight.<p>

"Oh, Nox! What happened to you?" Mila questioned, quickly floating over to her son's side.

She examined him closely, finding the damage to the bullying far worse than before. His eye was black on the underside and there were slight bruises apparent on his legs. His hands were cut and blotched with dry ectoplasm. "Come here, let us fix you up."

Nox stiffened. "That's all you ever do, mother. Why can't you contact the school and stop this...?"

His mother stared down at him with concern in her eye. "I wish I could, but I've already tried... There's no proof."

"What about my wounds? Shouldn't that be enough?..."

She sighed, pulling him over to his father, who had already brought the first aid kit.

"We've tried that... Now hold still, that needs to be cleaned up."

Nox grunted, letting Mila and Leon fix him to the best of their abilities.

The bruises were tended to with medication and his wounds were wiped clean of any spillage which could infect the open flesh. His father look out a roll of bandages and began to wrap them around his hands.

"Maybe the best thing for you to do is avoid those boys. I would suggest fighting back because of your training over the past years... But seeing what happened last time, it probably isn't a good idea." Leon suggested as he finished bandaging the cuts. His son simply pulled himself away after that statement.

"It doesn't help. They always find me." He narrowed his eye slightly. "You both aren't trying hard enough... Do you know how much that hurts?"

"Son, we've been trying..." Leon edged closer. "Please don't be like this. We care about you, truly."

"Your father is right, dear. We don't like to see you suffer..." Mila added.

Both parents stood close to their only child, staring down and wondering why his behavior has been different compared to the shy, reserved child he was back then. A dark chuckle came from the dusclops, who simply stared at the floor.

"Is that so...?" He continued to laugh uncontrollably, which made his parents stare nervously at him in intimidation. When he finished, he took a breath in order to speak his final words to his parents. "...All you've been telling me were absolute lies."

His laughter echoed into the skies as the screaming of his kin rang throughout the area.

The sink was used one last time to remove the evidence of the murder, in which he left his house casually, being sure to lock the door and close it behind him.

"Time to visit my little 'friends.'..." He smirked, starting to make his way to the school.

"Nox, where do you think you're going?"

Hiding his surprise, Nox turned to find one of his teachers addressing him. A cofagrigus floated there, looking rather puzzled.

"I'm just out for a walk, nothing more." He replied, hands draped at his sides.

"What about your parents...?" Mr. Hapu asked. "Where are they?"

"Ah, inside. They've been overworked today, so they're sleeping in early. Mother had to guide more souls than usual, and Father had been writing constantly without sleep for two days. They need this, so you mustn't disturb them."

"I see... Alright." The sarcophagus sighed, turning and heading back home for a little while until he had another shift at the school to take care of.

Nox continued on his way, laughing quietly to himself about how easy it was to trick such an intelligent teacher.

"Oh, yes, they're sleeping..." He held his hands behind his back as he strolled through the shaded land, grinning and now feeling his anger boiling.

"They're sleeping_...like the dead_."


	5. Revenge

The moment he stepped his foot onto school grounds, Nox was greeted by an undesirable duo. He couldn't help but smirk. These two were exactly the ones he wanted to meet here first for the sole purpose of getting rid of them.

"Well, well, if it isn't the charcoal-colored freak." Kamran greeted nastily, grinning with his razor sharp teeth in clear view. "Why back at school? There's nothing to do here, classes are over... Unless, you wanted to go for a round two."

Nox slightly tilted his head mockingly. "A round two, hm? I would love to. However, I'm warning you, things will be much different..." He chuckled slightly. "Much, much different..."

Enzo guffawed wholeheartedly. "I'm sure you mean different as in more snot is going to beaten out of you than ever before! No teachers are around to make sure that us boys are here on our best behavior. So be warned, you may not be able to move for a while once we're done finished with you!" The evolved gastly smirked, clenching his levitating claws into large fists, ready to give a bruising.

"So be it. Just try and make my condition worse than it already is." The dusclops taunted, motioning for the thugs to take a swing at him. "I dare you to try."

"With pleasure!" Kamran approached with no attacks seemingly at the ready. In an instant, he disappeared as if the shadow underneath him swallowed him whole. Enzo took his place in front of Nox in order to distract him with a fierce punch engulfed in darkness. Nox knew what they were planning.

The punch was thrown with great speed and power, only to be caught by Nox's dominant hand. Kamran appeared from behind with a devastating faint attack ready to hit the target with an intent on brutally damaging the opponent. Nox narrowed his eye and swung his free hand right into the striking sableye's torso with a horrifically powerful force capable of smashing cinder blocks into smithereens. Kamran screeched as his back impacted against the blacktop hard, causing him to gasp for air.

Enzo didn't take the time to hesitate, even if Nox has proven himself to be quite serious in this fight. He sent an orb of shadow straight at the mummy Pokémon's side, only to have the attack be smacked away by the back of the cyclops's hand. The orb sheared through the trunk of the dead tree, causing the upper half of it to collapse.

"My turn." Nox sneered. He released Enzo's fuming fist from his hold once Kamran had picked himself up and let out a battle cry, now on the rampage to make sure Nox were to be more dead than he already had been after the brawl. Nox sidestepped away from the punch which had been unleashed, which evidently went right into Kamran's jaw.

With a sadistic fury hinted in his eye, a wave terrifyingly strong negative energy flew at the punks, which blew them back a distance once it had made its mark. Immediately, they staggered up, readying their strongest attacks and unleashing them on their foe. Kamran's shadow extended to knock Nox back, who fell onto the concrete. Enzo landed a painful sucker punch right into the side of the blackened ghost's face, causing him to cry out in agony.

Nox pushed himself back up swiftly and pulled a fast one into Enzo's side. He shoved the haunter out of the way and went straight for his leader, sweeping another pulse of enraged emotions into the tiny imp, knocking him back onto the ground once more. "I will be the one to end this." Nox spat. "I've always wanted to turn the tides..." He cracked his knuckles, ready to take another swing.

"Boss!" Enzo shouted, flying over as fast as he could. Shadow balls were fired at the dusclops's feet, in which he hopped over and landed, glaring at the haunter with intense spite. Enzo stared at Nox directly in the eye, fear suddenly taking charge. He felt his hands become numb and his eyes unable to blink. His entire body had become immobilized from the deadly gaze. "Wh-what is this?" He panicked, trying to move but he couldn't budge at all.

Kamran had staggered back up with a little more fight left in him. "You little shit..." He snarled, claws raised and ready to pierce through Nox's bandages. Enraged, he sprinted and pounced at Nox, who caught him by the neck. Kamran squeaked, now unsure of what to say or do as Nox used the same move to render him immobile.

"I think it's about time for you to take your medicine..." Nox stated in a bone-chilling tone. He raised his palm which suddenly became a sickening violet hue. A hissing could be heard, as well as the bubbling of a dangerous substance. "Open wide." He muffled the sableye with his palm and injected a vicious toxin into the small ghost's system. Once finished with the task at hand, he dropped Kamran to the ground, leaving him to writhe as the poison slowly ate away at his circulatory system. His voice began to dry as he called for Enzo to help.

"I'm tired of this game." He picked him up again. A sickening rip reached Enzo's ears, which made him feel nauseated. Salty tears welled up in the corner of his eyes and fell. At this, Nox couldn't help but laugh at the haunter's pain of losing his now mutilated leader. Although he could not move, Enzo's body started to shake on instinct rather than the desire to do so.

"I-I'm sorry! I'm sorry, really! I'm sorry for everything!" The haunter continued to throw apologies out of the blue as Nox approached him in an ominous fashion. All of Enzo's cries for mercy were ignored by the revenge-craved dusclops. "No... No... NO! N-"

A bloodcurdling scream rang throughout the campus, a now dead haunter laying on the playground with his eyes rolled back to the inside of his head.

"And that is how a proper beating is done." Nox dusted his hands, now dripping with the haunter's thick ectoplasm. "It was a matter of time until your doings were to be repaid. Thanks for all of the misery, you two. It was all I needed to destroy your lives."

A drifloon gazed through the window in sheer devastation and shock. The one Callia loved had died, and there was nothing she could do about it. She was too frozen in her own denial that she couldn't call on a teacher to solve the problem and protect the lives at stake. Instead, she fainted, hoping this was all a dream.

For a moment, Nox paused, staring blankly into nothingness. The silence was broken until he saw a fin protruding from behind a boulder. "So I'm not alone... Come out, Price, Chandelle."

Both of the ghosts behind the large stone gasped and went to take their leave until their worst nightmare reappeared in front of them.

"You two aren't getting away, either. This is for ignoring my pleas for help!" Infuriated, he swatted at the frillish and evolved litwick with a harsh swing of his hand, knocking them into what they used as a hiding place.

"All you did was stand to the side and give me suspicious glances. I NEVER DID ANYTHING TO YOU!" His fist pounded down on the lampent and smashed her face into pieces. Her corpse was thrown to the side and miserably laid lifeless as the flame from within herself had burned out. Price gazed up at the murderous mummy, swallowing all of the courage he had and faced his fate.

Four bodies sat on the blacktop, lifeless. Steadily, Nox took heavy breaths and grinned. "It's because of your actions that you ended up this way." He lowered his eyelid. "Isn't that right, Apollo...?" He turned to the golett who had been watching from the roof the entire time.

"It's unfortunate I cannot get rid of you yet... The staff will find out any minute now... So it'd be best if I let myself inside. Try not to be a nuisance." He began to float away. "The teacher's son is next..." Nox had been lost from Apollo's line of sight and earshot once he had went around the corner.

With a stare full of sadness and regret, Apollo stared down at his fallen friends. They had always been there for him, even if he was a smarty who was considerably uninteresting to the more popular crowd. They had been there for him, now he must do what they would want him to do now, and that was to make sure that Nox didn't destroy the school and everyone in it.

"...I'll do it for the both of you." He shook his head. "For everyone." He slightly retracted his legs from the surface of the roof and bolted down through the double doors, speeding through the hallways to inform the principal of the threat.


End file.
